Eating Well on a BUDGET???

sandwiches and salads are great/cheapish healthy food. whole wheat bread. If you're like me, i get honey wheat, and i don't like veggies on my sandwich so i have carrots or something on the side, a piece of fruit, and some chex mix or baked chips, super yummy summer lunch

Alot of times I do comparative shopping I bascially by which fruit are on sale. There is a Easy Way ( a store that sale fresh fruit and veggies) they have a clearance table which is not bad. Just ripe fruit that has to be eaten with a couple of days of buying it. Sam's Club sales large quantities of veggies and fruit, not so cheap but will last a while. Frozen veggies from local grocery. Fresh is best but if you cannot afford it buy frozen. Hopes this helps......I have a family of 5 and is always looking for the best deals! :flowerforyou:

Do you have Aldi by you? Produce is pretty cheap there

If you go to Native Sun, Whole Foods, or one of the specialty organic type grocery stores, go to the bulk section where you have a section of foods you can scoop into a plastic baggie and choose your own quantity--these bins of food usually run you much cheaper than if you buy it in packages somewhere else in the store, and they generally are less expensive than the same items if you were to obtain them in a conventional, less healthy grocery store. If the bulk item bins you have an assortment of healthy choices such as many varieties of beans, rice, nutritional yeast, quinoa, seeds, granola, chick peas, lentils, etc.

Frozen veg is sometimes better then fresh as it's frozen quick to keep as many of the nutrients in as possible. Frozen meat is great as you can just defrost what you need (bag portions, makes it easier), make up big batches of things like soup, pasta sauce, and anything else that freezes well and will keep. Do you have a garden? If you do and you use potatoes a fair bit why not plant some? Depending how old the kids are, this can be great fun for them and a bit of a project too as they need very little care!

i always, always shop according to my local grocery store ad. i plan my dinners before i go to the store so i know exactly what to buy so i'm not buying extra junk. i buy loaves of bread when on sale and freeze them. i buy the healthy life 35 calorie wheat bread and i love to put a little romaine, mustard, and ham and just have a sandwich. i can sometimes get those loaves on sale 2/$4 and i will stock up and freeze some. also cucumbers are cheap, i usually eat those as a snack or as a side with my sandwich. green peppers are also yummy. rice cakes and popcorn are also great snacks and i like to dip them both in salsa. frozen veggies are a great side dish. buy lean meats when on sale and freeze them. i buy chicken breasts and cut them in half and grill them all at once then save them for lunches/dinners through out the week.

We eat red beans and brown rice for dinner almost every monday. Granted, I am from New Orleans and that is pretty traditional around here. But at $3-$5 for a pot that feeds a family of 5 with 2nds and leftovers, it's a healthy bargain.

We eat meat sparingly ever since I started buying hormone-free, free-ranging, blah-blah-blah. That stuff is expensive so it comes into play only once or twice a week.

Vegetables are the bulk of our meal. What is in season is cheap. What is out of season is frozen which makes it a reasonable price.

Dinner for us always either includes wheat pasta, brown rice, or potatoes. Cheap, cheap, cheap, and filling for the fam. I don't usually eat that part of the meal and either eat a bigger salad or more of the other veggies to fill up.

Also, (because of my sister-in-law who is a raw vegan and spends a butt-load of money on food for her little family of two) I have begun to think of healthier food and the higher grocery bill as an upfront investment in health. My children are rarely (if ever) sick and neither am I.

We're a family of 5 with one income, so it's tight here as well. I spend about $175 every 2 weeks on groceries. I shop at a store called Aldi and get most of my stuff there minus personal hygiene items. I have to buy the "must have" such as milk, bread and cereal. My boys aren't very picky, then again..they don't leave the table until they're done with their food. So that saves me money that way also. I stock up on lots of fruits, veggies, chicken that are fairly price (if I find a better deal at Walmart or Kroger- I'll go there as well). I plan out my meals for 2 weeks and stick to that shopping list- a must for me because I tend to see something good and I'll put it in my cart. Lol! My husband brings his lunch to work and there will be times I will have to pack 2 shift worth of food. My oldest goes to school, but since we're a family of 5, we qualify for a reduced breakfast and lunch- we save a lot doing it that way.

Also, (because of my sister-in-law who is a raw vegan and spends a butt-load of money on food for her little family of two) I have begun to think of healthier food and the higher grocery bill as an upfront investment in health. My children are rarely (if ever) sick and neither am I.

Ever since I went to eating better foods, I have also noticed Im not sick anywhere NEAR as frequently as I used to be. I think Ive been sick once in the last year and it was fine after a couple days of rest.

Last year I made a list of the thirty grocery items we buy most often and went on a pricing spree at every grocery in our area to figure out which store had the best prices. It did take a lot of work (I knocked out nine stores in a week) but in doing my price comparisons I was able to cut our weekly grocery bill from $100ish a week to $30ish a week (for two people) simply by changing stores (I was shopping at Giant Eagle and now shop at Aldi). Of course there are some items that Aldi does not carry so I occasionally have to go to a larger grocery store but those trips are few and far between.

I have also discovered that menu planning and carrying a detailed shopping list is an absolute MUST! We don't eat much in the way of processed foods around here which takes a little more work to prep for meals but it really helps to keep costs down and makes it much easier for me, the reason for limited processed foods is that I have food allergies and it really is a ton of work to read all those ingredient labels every time you buy something.

We also do our very best to go to the grocery store only once a week (our day is Thursday). I've noticed that every time I go to the grocery store for one forgotten item, no matter how small that item is, it ends up costing $20.